Friday, May 31, 2013

January Justice Book Review

You are going to love this book! It has everything you want in a mystery and a beautiful love story that ends way too soon and you will feel the same despair that Malcom Cutter does because it sounded like he had it all!

Here is an excerpt from the back of the book:

ONE OF THE STRANGEST THINGS ABOUT THE CITY was the sudden way it disappeared around the edges. One minute you were down on Sunset Boulevard surrounded by glass and concrete, and the next thing you knew you were up on Mulholland Drive, alone in the rough country.

From a high window or a rooftop almost anywhere in Los Angeles you could see the mountains, and there was always something ravenous up there looking down. I was up among the hungry creatures, standing at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness.

Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles’s edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really was no separation between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders.

Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control. I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me?

Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I shouldn’t take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal who would drive someone to do what my wife had done.

Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city.

If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. But I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be my turn to see if I could fly.

I stepped back from the edge.

This is one wild ride of a book! I have never read one of Mr. Dickson's books before but I will definitely be waiting to read the 2nd book! This was a very good storyline and executed with precision and mysteries along the way
Malcom Cutter is brilliant but also flawed.
I don't think I would turn down that kind of money and all the houses and all the other properties and cars to boot, if it had been left to me. Of course, by the end of the book, he had worked it out in his head that he would keep it so that he could continue to support Haley's charities.
I am also very happy that the 2 trusty and loyal sidekicks will be staying on also and he will be adding one more to the mix in the next book, if the ending is any indication.
You will want to stay up and read this book from start to finish once you get it. I know I did!

Info on Author:

A master of profound suspense.

Athol Dickson's mystery, suspense, and literary novels have won three Christy Awards and an Audie Award. Suspense fans who enjoyed Athol's They Shall See God will love his latest novel, January Justice, the first installment in a new mystery series called The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs. The second and third novels in the series, Free Fall in February, and A March Murder, are coming in 2013.

Critics have favorably compared Athol's work to such diverse authors as Octavia Butler (Publisher's Weekly), Hermann Hesse (The New York Journal of Books) and Flannery O'Connor (The New York Times). Athol lives with his wife in southern California. Please visit his website and like his Facebook fan page.

Thank you to Athol Dickson and Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for generously offering this book to me for review.
If you'd like to join in on an upcoming tour just stop by their sites and sign up today!